Las Cruces Bulletin: Steve Fischmann prepares for first session in santa fe
BY BETHANY CONWAY, The Las Cruces Bulletin
In what was the closest race in all of Doņa Ana Countyīs 2008 elections, District 37 welcomed new state senatorial leadership in Democrat Steve Fischmann.
Now ready to face his first legislative session in the Roundhouse representing a district previously held for 15 years by Senate Minority Whip Lee Rawson, Fischmann says he is poised to bring his ideas to the table, but isnīt afraid to admit he will need time to learn about the process. "I am too new to be making predictions," he said. "I guess what Iīve learned is never to get too tied to any particular expectations. Iīve never been (to a legislative session). Iīll be learning in this first session, so I think the best thing I can do is put expectations aside, learn as much as I can and be a positive player."
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Fischmann graduated from the University of California-Los Angeles with a bachelorīs degree in political science and English and a masterīs in business. He then spent many years working as an executive for Levi Strauss and later owned a real estate brokerage and property-inspection business.
Four years ago, when he and his wife Sandy Katayanagi were looking to escape the big city, he said, "Las Cruces caught our fancy."
"It was big enough to have some stuff going on, but small enough for us to enjoy a more relaxed pace of life." He quickly got involved in the community as cofounder of the Quality Growth Alliance and chair of the Southwest Energy Alliance, and, before he knew it, this retired businessman and father of two was on his way to becoming a senator.
"People asked me to run," Fischmann said. "Iīve been involved with a number of issues locally land-use issues, land-preservation issues, utility and energy issues just as a concerned citizen. Some of the folks that I worked with were in the Legislature and thought I would be a good person to run."
While many people got to know Fischmann as he campaigned through their neighborhoods, it is his proposed bills this session that will establish his main priorities.
"Iīll be coming up with a lot of ideas and pushing forward on energy policy," he said. "I think that in our longterm planning, we are setting folks up for much higher energy costs than they need to bear. We have great solar and geothermal resources here in this district."
Not only does he think lower energy costs will stimulate the economy, but utilizing new forms of energy will create jobs.
"We can do a lot of things here that can create economic opportunity. We need to create more jobs that support families," he said. "Developing these future-looking industries energy being one that I think is key is one way that we can do that."
While talk among state legislators now centers on budget shortfalls, Fischmann said there are other ways to solve the stateīs revenue problems. "I think itīs a big mistake if anyone is thinking that we need new taxes to handle some of the issues coming up and some of the budget shortfalls," he said. "We have to stop thinking that throwing lots of public money at special interests somehow is in the public good."
This philosophy goes hand-in-hand with his vision for the stateīs energy policies. "I think, if we handle some of the market issues correctly, the state does not have to make its own big investment in renewable energy. I think we will find that private investment does the job for us," he said.
While many see the decreased budget as a hamper on the governmentīs ability to sustain ongoing programs, Fischmann said this is a time to look at what is really important.
"This is a chance for us to really look at the things that arenīt that effective and address them more effectively than we cared to in the past," he said. "We should be looking at this as an opportunity to streamline and make better use of the resources we have."
In the area of ethics legislation, Fischmann said there is no one solution, but there are always areas in which government can work to better itself.
"It seems to have been a fairly emotional issue in the Senate," he said. "My No. 1 goal is to really get government focused on serving constituents first, rather than campaign contributors and large financial interests. One of the things that struck me as I got involved in issues is that I saw that happening a lot big money interests and campaign contributors would get a huge share of the pie and there was only a little left over for everyone else and it needs to work the other way around."
Fischmann talks to Jan Reed (left) and Ruth Ann Hanlin (right)
about the election last November.
Photo by: STEVE MACINTYRE, The Las Cruces Bulletin
For original article please click here.
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